Chapter 34

I was worried now too. Can you reach them?"

Jonna said, "Yes, they're just being questioned."

"About the weapons?"

"Yes, and they have linked us to the gold too. It sounds like they're not sure though."

"Where are they?"

"Toronto."

"They're out of our range."

"Camsa and Christiane are half way."

I concentrated on Camsa and through him I found Lauren. At this distance, thoughts weren't clear but I felt relief that I was now communicating.

This meant that the Canadian Security Intelligence Service would probably come to question me too and perhaps find the rest of my family.

I said, "Get ready to go to Woodland."

Jonna replied, "We have three shipments coming in and you have to send some gold to Bakhtin."

"The warehouse may be watched or the trucks followed."

"So far there had been no problems. They cannot tie the warehouse to us directly."

"We can loose a lot of gold."

"It's not worth much."

"You're right. I want to go to Toronto and they can't keep the girls indefinitely. Selna's papers are as good as Bakhtin could make them."

"They're probably watching the house now. Lauren left from here, not the warehouse. If you go they will question you. You won't make it to the girls. I figure they will have to let you go but not for a while. There's nothing to gain by being taken in."

I had to admit that Jonna was right. Even if I left by the warehouse, there was little I could do unless I was to break them out and that would put us in an entirely different position. Earth may get too hot, or at least London would be.

There was lots to do so I hurried back to Woodland and took our four crates of about three tonnes each of gold and drove them through the portals to the warehouse.

I couldn't just sit and wait for the trucks. There was nothing I could do. Work might help me overcome my worries, so I went into the stone rooms and raised the frequency considerably. The bug detector went back to Bejek with me. It was five minutes until I got a weak alarm. There was no direction here and I had to go by signal strength.

We went in a line long enough to guess that it came from down the coast. Twenty minutes later I came to a upthrust of rock. It was another five minutes until I found that the signal was coming from inside the cracked rock face of the hill. In fact, it was coming from all the cracks in the wall. I followed the major cracks and all of them gave out the signal I was searching for. It couldn't be too deep because the rock would block most of the signal.

The strongest signals came from an area that was thirty metres long. There was a good chance that it could even be further away and the cracks in the planet were directing the waves to me from a distance.

My return trip to Woodland was easier if I stayed at the top of the cliff that lead to the ocean because it had a road on it. When I got near our first portal, I looked far down into the water and again thought that there had to be some silver portals down there someplace.

As I came back, I saw Matra and Caiti driving forklifts in Woodland. A moment later Porta, Fislu, and Sonna followed. This was a shipment of copper and it was going into our strong room. It was forty tonnes and we already had a hundred and twenty stored here with perhaps another hundred tonnes out being used to buy goldmining properties. In a moment I got Fislu and Porta to carry the last of the gold to the truck that came to us from Artlam and Mantoya. There should be twenty three and a half tonnes all together.

The truck driver taking the load knew nothing about the nature of the cargo. Our bill of lading said it was lead shot. He was also one of Bakhtin's more trusted men. I gave the man an envelope for Bakhtin with instructions on what to do with the metal and what to do with the money he got from it. Each pallet had a coin in it for safety but I figured it was not needed. The previous two shipments had them too and the coins came back after Bakhtin received the gold.

A half hour after the gold left, a shipment of old munitions came in. This truck had a steel container and we just took this off and the truck departed. We used two of the forklifts to carry the unit through the system to Woodland.

The next truck had heavy wood boxes and this took longer. As soon as the cargo was disposed of we cleaned out the warehouse. A half hour later we did the same thing at the house. The transmitter had to be moved out and the portal closed.

We stayed in the house and other than eating, we did nothing but wait. It was near midnight when the girls returned. They entered a dark house and we communicated just by thought. The bug detector found nothing but our unit was not able to do everything. I set all three alarm systems and then the motion detectors to record who entered and what they did.

Selna was the most upset but Lauren and Tiffany were not far behind. We simply took them through the portal and shut it down.

It was hours later that the girls settled down. They had been questioned separately and vigorously even though Selna and Tiffany were still young. They stayed strong, they said, because they could communicate with each other and knew we were watching out for them.

We slept late into the Bejek day and called Artlam and Mantoya on the radio to find out the latest news. It was the bad variety. Our enemies were on the move and we had to work faster to prepare.

The eight major cities and seventeen smaller ones had eleven thousand people armed with Lee-Enfields or with the AKs. Other rifles had just arrived including the M1 Garand that was used by the Americans in the second world war. My trouble was keeping the similar ammunition for each weapon separate. Most of the troops were uneducated and the rounds looked the same.

The Anguy were coming and should arrive in three to four weeks. Ships could not transport enough of their men, horses, and materiel to fight a war so they marched. The trouble, from our perspective, was that there looked to be a half million coming.

Artlam looked down at a map and said, "We were going to hit them well before they get here." He pointed to the map and I saw the eleven major places that we could use to inflict the maximum casualties.

Mantoya said, "We're going to have to fight the countries we go through too."

I added, "We've lots of copper. The kings along the way may decide to be off hunting someplace and not even notice that we passed through."

Artlam said, "That would work. We're taking our own supplies but we still have to live off the land. I've been stockpiling here and made contracts along our probable line of march."

I smiled and said, "I like that. When we retreat we tell the natives the Anguy are coming and they will take what remains of their food. The Anguy would then have to have a large baggage train which we can hit."

Mantoya said, "That'll make the Anguy desperate and they'll try even harder to win. They know they will starve otherwise."

"We're trying to survive and I plan on doing everything possible to kill or capture the Anguy. Some methods I don't like but I'm prepared to use them."

Mantoya said, "The Church gas?"

"If I have to."

Lauren had not said anything for a while and now asked, "The sarin?"

"Yes. The Church tried to use it on us twice. If the worst comes to worse, I'm prepared to use it."

On a lighter note I said, "We can boost the morale of our people and our neighbours by videotaping the battles and the aftermath. If the images go onto a DVD then we can show how we are dealing with our enemy."

Now it was Mantoya and Artlam that smiled at this idea. This sort of equipment was easy to pick up in Toronto and I had a lot of units.

When I first came to power, I tried to show that I was strong enough to win battles but not interested in taking over other countries. Representatives had been sent to explain my position. Now we sent heavily armed emissaries. They carried copper and contracts to supply food even though we didn't need it in Mendab but the army on the march would. Our own propagandists talked about the Anguy but failed to say that they were one of the arms of the Church. This institution was still powerful in each city we went to.

Sometimes we sent assassins after the priests and they did the same to us.

I sought out Osston and found him teaching what he knew to the students. At this time his course mainly covered the code that allowed us to read the books. We had transcribed all the books we found into the computers and then shared the files. We were now looking for enough code passages so that we could do new books automatically.

Osston was a popular person. As a slave, he liked to bend over for any male that wished a place to park for a few minutes. This got him into trouble with some of the male students. Osston was theirs and theirs alone.

He taught everything he knew and with complete honesty. This endeared him to the rest of us. The Church took notice of him too and they tried to kill him almost as much as they did me. Now that he was part of a super family, they took care of him, including a full time security unit.

We shifted to Limka, which was normally the capital except that I stayed more often in Shreff. The capital was larger, older and dirtier. The palace was nice for this world.

When we finished making love for the night, we settled into one large bedroom. Though it hurt, we had sandbags put in a ring around our beds. This was now a standard precaution. Mirrors were used to see in more than one direction and perhaps confuse an enemy. Sleeping lightly was now a survival mechanism and a sudden source of light triggered this response.

My eyes flashed open and I could see the grey light of a portal forming.

"Attack," I yelled and reached for my weapons.

The family rolled off their beds and found their own weapons. The first stigga was not shy about coming through. I fired even before the creature got fully through. The plastic encased piece of granite flew out of my shotgun and blasted a hole in the creature's head. Even as it fell, one of the family put another hole into it.

The stigga came charging through four abreast. Shotguns were going off all around me. Their bodies started to pile up in front of the portal but they climbed over or around. I had to stop this. The last time I used C4 to knock out the portal and I had a similar present already prepared.

The stigga bodies came to the ring of sandbags where we were standing to shoot. When the number started to dwindle I went to one of the three piles of rope placed around the walls. These had grappling hooks attached at one end the way Tonna and Fillo had used to take out the portal.

I told the family what I intended and they fired faster while I found a rope with the aid of their muzzle flashes. The hook was not heavy and it went around my head three times then I threw it. It flew three metres behind the portal and hit one of the approaching stigga.

I pulled the rope but not tight. Inside the sandbag ring were more weapons, ammunition, grenades, and two satchels of C4. It was necessary to stay low so I would not get shot as I pulled a satchel out and set the timer for ten seconds. The button was pushed and I backed up and to one side. Lauren, Tiffany and Matra were firing to protect me and hopefully organised our defence.

"Matra, pull the rope hard after I throw this through."

"I will." She grabbed the rope while the rest continued to shoot

Moving back almost made me trip over a body but I made it to the portal in a lull. Only two creatures tried to kill me. I threw the sack in and yelled for Matra to pull. I dove as far away as I could.

There was an explosion in the room from the portal collapsing but it would be far worse on the other side. I got up and the shotguns had not quite stopped yet.

There was gore everywhere and we were splattered with it. I found my shotgun and looked for threats but found none. We communicated by thought because all of us were deaf.

"Is anybody hurt?"

They were too stunned to reply so I went around to each and checked. The stigga had not laid a claw or a tooth on anybody.

I wanted to get out of here. I went to the large doors that were barred and removed the beam. The hallway was filled with armed people ready to give battle. They talked but I could not hear so I said loudly, "I can't hear any of you. I want to get cleaned up."

We left but not before putting fresh drums on the auto shotguns. The palace was in an uproar and it took a long time to get the blood, guts and chitin removed, then to actually get clean. We only washed a few at a time until all of us were done. A new attack could come at any moment.

It was after we were cleaned that the girls started to cry. We kept watch for portals and enemies. We found another spot to sleep and I had to use the Heart of Opfu to heal us and calm us enough to rest. Even then, we had to have armed guards stationed inside the room.

When we awoke, the palace still had not settled down. We had a large group of trophies to our names. There were sixty three and a half medallions because a stigga was severed along with the medallion it wore when the portal closed. We were congratulated with sentiments of good hunting but I could have forgone the pleasure of fighting these beings.

Half of the stigga were female and five of those carried eggs. In an attempt to understand the creatures I ordered the bodies be searched and any eggs found to be incubated and turned. This may be a doomed hope but it was better to try. Finding people ready to take on this job was difficult. Not only did I want somebody that would do a good job but somebody that would show at least some compassion.

It was decided to sleep in a large tent. It also took a few days before our hearing returned to normal. If we had to fight again, fewer people would be put in jeopardy. We still had our sand bags but now we had foxholes too.

A better defence would be some type of optical device that could detect the change in ambient light and signal an alarm. Getting one made would take time and that is what I didn't have enough of.

Mantoya had sent his best sailors to harass the Anguy supply column. They used my extended range mortar to good advantage, then used the LAW rockets to destroy what they could not take back. We acquired a lot of ships and supplies this way and had few losses because of our superior weapons and the vests some of them now wore.

The Habstner were well armed and led by their own officers. I was their commanding officer, though. The army usually just sniped at the Anguy day or night. With the night vision glasses and radios, we suffered few losses and inflicted many casualties. The Anguy were not effective after a few days because they couldn't get a chance to sleep. When not sniping, we used mortar rounds and even willie pete or illuminating rounds.

Five nights after the stigga attack, we found ourselves facing thousands of Anguy trying to enter our camp well within our perimeter. The Habstner officers were quick enough to use first one, then two machine guns and killed the men as quick as they entered. The Anguy were hampered by having to touch their neighbour or suffering debilitating pain because few had a medallion.

A second and a third portal opened and more men poured into our camp. The M72s literally blew them apart until more machine guns and even artillery were used to destroy them. They were coming in a fairly narrow area which helped us a lot.

The butchering went on for almost a half hour and we must have killed five or six thousand men because we had thirty two hundred casualties on our side of the portals. The gates had been closed with rope and hooks again to drag the chain to where it could not go.

There were between five and six hundred wounded and the majority of those would live. The battle was videotaped from five different points and then the camerawomen stayed to watch how we treated our wounded prisoners.

I was worried that the priests would open a portal in front of a cannon so we spread out more and the foxholes were now trenches. Our love life suffered while we concentrated on staying alive.

We had all sorts of artillery now and we practised, but not nearly enough. The militia grew steadily. We had to resort to the standard rifles and cannon used on this world but we could also use high explosive shells with the dynamite we made.

We had daily radio reports of fighting. In some cases we were making great strides and we had to keep our own people from going too fast and far because they would be cut off and killed.

I organised an attack in one of our own offences. A coin was placed near a major Anguy encampment. Our armoured trucks rushed through four abreast. Our infantry were right behind. We fought for two days and killed almost twenty thousand men and captured a further seven.

We overran the officers and the priests' quarters and captured another silver chain, books and icons. This was our forth because three more had been taken from priests sailing on Anguy ships.

A major Anguy army was coming to attack. We fled in an orderly fashion and took everything that the Anguy would think was valuable. I stayed until the last and we used the artillery and eventually snipers and mortar teams.

There were simply too many of them so we retreated slowly until the Anguy fell into a trap we had set with me as bait. Here we used captured black powder and napalm to kill perhaps five thousand in one major battle.

The battle line was not like a conventional war because both sides used portals to get behind the enemy. We had radio and the priests had their own communicators. What worked best was our small unit skills that employed snipers.

The Anguy advance, here and all along the front, ground to a halt at the severity of our attacks and they were still three hundred kilometres away from Mendab.

For the next month we hammered away at the Anguy. The priests could not seem to inspire them the way they had. Select sniper teams, usually with my family as members, found the priests and killed them if they could. Officers were usually the alternative targets.

After two months, the Adchek entered the war to open another front. Radio reports from people flying our drones reported Adchek ships coming our way but were still six hundred klicks away.

Two port cities could be their targets and we sent reinforcements immediately. The cities were not even in our country. Corrdis seemed to be the target. It was the capital city of Nosan. We got to the area but did not approach the city itself. Teams were sent in disguise to take out the priests that would surely warn the Adchek of our presence.

The fighting in the Church was difficult even with our weapons. Grenades and mortars had to be used. Teargas thrown in for good measure. My presence usually drew the priests so I stayed back until it looked like the Adchek were committed.

In the late afternoon we saw a group of ships draw near and drop anchor. There were many more ships than this that had been spotted so they must have had another objective or part to play in this war. They had stopped twelve klicks from the city. This area of beach was hidden behind a wall of rock. This was a good place to make a landing and there were few locals about. Longboats that had been towed here were now filled with men and nearly a thousand Adchek rowed to shore.

Artlam was with me and said, "Kill them while you can!"

"I want to but we have to wait for a quarter of them to get here. The ships are going to get away."

"What plan do you have now?"

"There are seventeen Adchek ships in sight. We have three standard mortar teams, two M198 teams and even a small field gun. We take the soldiers on the water and the few on the land while we shell the ships. I know for a fact that they will be too demoralised to fight back effectively."

"What about the other fleet?"

"They're waiting for something. I figure these guys were going to Nosan. This group has to get in and take the cannon on the walls and then the fort."

Most of the ships were well within the range of our regular mortars when I gave the signal. The ships were hit first with HE-FRAG rounds. The M198s opened up and took out those further out. I wanted to hit these more because I figured the priests would take the safer position.

By the time we started, half of the Adchek were already on the beach. Machine guns and riflemen opened up. Grenades flew only at the few that made it to the rocks seeking safety. The remainder of the boat crews surged for shore but were cut down. Surprisingly none of the crews decided to try to seek safety with the ships that were still taking fire. This was a mini version of D-Day but it was the Adchek that were taking the punishment.

The firing lasted only twenty minutes and we then concentrated on the few men that came out on the decks of the ships. They were within the range of my sniper rifle and I made sure nothing would allow them to escape.

Women and a few men surged into the boats and raced to the stricken ships. There was little shooting until the survivors on the ships found they were going to be boarded.

Two hours later we had all of the ships. There were a lot more casualties than I expected. The longboats were intended to take two or three trips ferrying men and then materiel ashore. The whole fiasco, as seen from the Adchek point of view, was videotaped from many vantage points as had the rest of the war.

A few of us raced for the city. These were mainly the mortar crews and the supply wagons. If the Adchek had met little resistance, they would have reached Nosan by now. I figured that the Church would figure on an hour or two to take the fort.

We came into the portion of the city outside the walls. It was dark now and I could see the Adchek fleet approaching by being drawn by men in longboats. There should have been a chain across the channel but the first ship had no problem getting through.

We hastily set up but not before the fort started to fire on the ships with the ships returning the fire. Our mortars went to work and we hit the Adchek fleet from behind some large rocks. We took fire but the rocks were excellent protection.

We shot illuminating rounds so those in the fort could see where to aim. We took out the ships that were farther out.

By morning, the women we had left to guard the prisoners had arrived in their boats and began to take more ships. By noon we had three sets of visitors when King Bradus came with a forth.

The man was about fifty and I could see that he was used to getting his way. He tried to push the women but he didn't get far. They would have knuckled under before but they now knew their rights and also their obligations.

I went over with my personal guard and nodded politely in the Bejek way and said, "Hello, you must be King Bradus."

"What are you doing invading my land?"

My guard bristled at this and I said quietly, "If I wanted your land I could take it. I came to keep the Adchek from using your country as a supply base when they attack me. It looks like you fired on them and they fired back. To me that makes them the invader."

"That's besides the point. You came here without my leave."

"Then we'll go. The next time two Adchek fleets come, you may have to fight them yourself."

"Two?"

"You missed the fun last night. The other Adchek fleet put men ashore that were probably going to take your fort and walls by stealth. They could have held off your people long enough to destroy the fort and breach the city walls."

"You stopped them?"

"We did and we took their ships. A report says that there were three and a half thousand infantry on the ships. There may be an equal number on these ships."